# Covers where they didn't change the gender. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650 "2011-08-05T23:02:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/21 "2011-08-06T08:00:10Z")
On his very first album, Dylan does _House of the Rising Sun_ in the appropriate gender - as opposed to the later Manfred Mann version, which makes it the ruin of many a poor boy, which is absurd, ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/22 "2011-08-06T08:05:13Z")
[Kate Bush’s cover of _Rocket Man_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8v2RNLHr0) kept the original gender: _She packed my bags last night, pre-flight…_ ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/23 "2011-08-06T12:27:22Z")
I don’t know if it meets the strict definition of a cover since it has some added material, but the first thing that jumped into my mind was [Gloria by Patti Smith](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxygqSTO1lQ). It was probably the most glorious rendition of a 60s pop song I ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/24 "2011-08-06T13:21:05Z")
Marlene Dietrich’s cover of _Lili Marlene_, for one. (I’d kinda be surprised if that was the only one she did) Any version of _Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier_ performed by a male singer, that I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/25 "2011-08-06T13:48:25Z")
[Cher’s You Better Sit Down Kids](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-MWOGG3eB4): You better sit down kids. I’ve got something to say. Your mother is staying But I’m going away. I’ve always wanted to do Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance, which is about a British woman coming to New York and sleeping with a bunch of guys, with a gender flip, making it about a gay British guy yada, yada, yada. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/26 "2011-08-06T13:49:18Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > [Kate Bush’s cover of _Rocket Man_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8v2RNLHr0) kept the original gender: > > _She packed my bags last night, pre-flight…_ That wouldn’t ping me as not changing the gender…but there is the whole “I’m a rocket man” and “I’m not the man they think I am at home” ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/27 "2011-08-06T14:27:12Z")
> [@Claire\_Beauchamp](#): > > John Prine singing _Angel from Montgomery_. Of course, that’s not a cover, he wrote the song in the female voice. Gillian Welch wrote her song _Red Dirt Halo_ from the male perspective, and I think there’s some others of hers as well. The Cowboy Junkies cover Neil Young’s _Powderfinger_ without changing the gender - “He told me red means run, son, and numbers add up to nothing”. Many folk singers don’t change the gender when covering a song - June Tabor recorded a stunning version of _And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda_, and I don’t think that song would make sense with a gender change. I’ve regularly heard both male and female folk singers sing traditional songs from the other gender as well. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/28 "2011-08-06T14:29:09Z")
Some guys who have covered Memory from Cats do sing “I was beautiful then,” but others change the line to “It was beautiful then” or “Life was beautiful then.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/29 "2011-08-06T15:10:37Z")
[Frank Mills](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZBlXRA2HFA) is a song from _Hair_ based on a flier the show’s writers saw from a girl trying to find a boy she’d shared a day with. It’s sung by a teenaged girl in the show (possibly Diane Keaton in the OBC- she was in the cast but I’m not sure if she did a solo). The Lemonheads [did a cover of it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2GcQNKLh-U)- it’s freakier when 30-something guys are looking for a long haired guy they love but are embarassed to be seen with. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/30 "2011-08-06T15:39:31Z")
On _Glee_ they often have a male character sing a song originally performed by a woman, or vice versa, although these are often songs where there are no clearly gendered lines to be changed. But there are exceptions, like this (not very good) mash-up of [“Stop, In the Name of Love” and “Free Your Mind”](http://www.youtube.com/user/musicfromgleeVEVO#p/u/100/PNl2hNNTVb0) in which a male singer denies that wearing high-heeled shoes makes him a prostitute. There was also an all-male cover of Destiny’s Child’s “[Bills, Bills, Bills](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_kWC4_aOdI)” that is directed at a “trifling, good for nothing type of brother.” There have been a few cases where _Glee_ kept the original pronouns even when they didn’t match the character the song was being sung _to_ in the episode. For instance, this did a cover of Robin Thicke’s “[When I Get You Alone](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuahZj0vcmY)” sung by a guy to another guy even though the song uses the words “girl” and “she”. > [@Simplicio](#): > > Not exactly a pronoun, but I head a cover of Leonard Cohen’s **Chelsea Hotel** a few days ago by a female artist that kept the line “giving me head, on the unmade bed..”. That doesn’t strike me as gendered at all. A woman can of course receive oral sex, and the subject of the song is referred to as “you” throughout and could thus be a man or a woman. The most gendered line from that song that I can remember is “You told me again you preferred handsome men, but for me you would make an exception.” That still works if the singer is a woman, although it takes on a rather different meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/31 "2011-08-06T16:02:07Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > That doesn’t strike me as gendered at all. A woman can of course receive oral sex, and the subject of the song is referred to as “you” throughout and could thus be a man or a woman. The most gendered line from that song that I can remember is “You told me again you preferred handsome men, but for me you would make an exception.” That still works if the singer is a woman, although it takes on a rather different meaning. I usually think of “giving head” as specifically fellatio (and “eating out” as specifically cunnilingus). Don’t think I have a dictionary quite edgy enough to see if I’m correct or not though. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/32 "2011-08-06T16:24:27Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I usually think of “giving head” as specifically fellatio (and “eating out” as specifically cunnilingus). Don’t think I have a dictionary quite edgy enough to see if I’m correct or not though. Allow me to introduce you to [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=give+head), which supports **Lamia** ’s theory. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/33 "2011-08-06T16:38:10Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Joan Jett singing _Crimson and Clover_? Well, the pronoun is the major rhyme pair in the song. Crimson and Delphinium just isn’t quite as catchy ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/34 "2011-08-06T16:39:39Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I usually think of “giving head” as specifically fellatio (and “eating out” as specifically cunnilingus). Don’t think I have a dictionary quite edgy enough to see if I’m correct or not though. > [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Allow me to introduce you to [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=give+head), which supports **Lamia** ’s theory. I just checked and believe it or not, this is actually covered by the OED under “head”: _slang (orig. U.S.). Oral sex; fellatio or cunnilingus. Freq. in to give (good) head : to perform fellatio or cunnilingus (well)._ ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/35 "2011-08-06T16:51:38Z")
“There She Goes,” by the La’s, covered by [Sixpence None The Richer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj3vXkhqszE). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/36 "2011-08-06T18:39:20Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > There have been a few cases where Glee kept the original pronouns even when they didn’t match the character the song was being sung to in the episode. For instance, this did a cover of Robin Thicke’s “When I Get You Alone” sung by a guy to another guy even though the song uses the words “girl” and “she”. The most irritating was on the wedding episode when Kurt sang _Just the Way You Are_ to Kurt and kept such lines as “Girl you’re amazing”. I thought it odd they kept that intact considering how much Kurt is bullied (even Sue called him “Lady”) and that Finn then leads Kurt in a dance (i.e. Kurt takes the woman’s position). The character’s not transgendered but an openly gay male and I thought it was a tad insensitive. (Not that there’s anything wrong with being transgendered or a woman, but if you’re not you’re not and I don’t think they’d have said “Girl you’re amazing” if they were singing to Mr. Schue or Puck.) ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/37 "2011-08-06T19:32:04Z")
Linda Ronstadt singing [“December Dream.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWr-8OMkLSc) with the Stone Poneys. _I can see her slowly walking through the empty streets of morning…_ I bought three incarnations of that album (Stony End), vinyl, 8 track (ha) and mp3. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/38 "2011-08-06T21:59:10Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The most irritating was on the wedding episode when [Finn] sang _Just the Way You Are_ to Kurt and kept such lines as “Girl you’re amazing”. I thought it odd they kept that intact considering how much Kurt is bullied (even Sue called him “Lady”) The only justification I can see for this is that maybe we were meant to understand that Finn was singing the song for both his mother and for Kurt. It didn’t really seem that way, but in his speech Finn did say that his mom and Kurt had both helped him to be a better man so that _could_ have been what they were going for. It did seem weird, though. > [@](#): > > and that Finn then leads Kurt in a dance (i.e. Kurt takes the woman’s position). To be fair, Finn is taller. Kurt is by far the better dancer, which probably trumps height, but he had taught Finn to lead so they had danced that way before. It bothered me more that Kurt wasn’t leading when he danced with Blaine in the prom episode, but that’s another story. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/39 "2011-08-06T22:56:56Z")
I think that, whichever way they go (change pronouns or not), if you know the original this is nearly always jarring, _unless_ teh pronouns are left alone and it is fairly clearly intended to have been changed from a straight song to a gay one, as with Joan Jett (or vice-versa, I suppose, though I can’t think of any examples). Otherwise, either they are saying something weird (apparently gay lyrics sung by someone with a straight image), or the changed lyrics sound too stilted and careful (and, sometimes, you lose rhymes and even may subtly upset the rhythm). An exception that occurs to me is Janis Joplin’s version of _Me and Bobby McGee_, which I think does get away with changing “she” to “he”. But perhaps this is because I think it is by far the best version of the song, anyway. Indeed, the original is a bit gender confused already (unintentionally, so far as I can judge), what with being about a a woman called Bobby. (Yes, I know women can be called Bobby, but by default it is a male name, and, because it does not actually have many gendered pronouns in it anyway, you actually have to listen quite carefully to the original to realize it is about a girlfriend rather than about a male buddy.) It actually makes more sense as sung by a woman about a man. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650/40 "2011-08-06T23:08:36Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Linda Ronstadt singing [“December Dream.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWr-8OMkLSc) with the Stone Poneys. > > _I can see her slowly walking through the empty streets of morning…_ > > I bought three incarnations of that album (Stony End), vinyl, 8 track (ha) and mp3. Linda seemed to make a specialty of this. In _Different Drum_ (written by Mike Nesmith IIRC - the actually talented one in _The Monkees_) she gets to sing “Oh I ain’t saying you ain’t pretty…”. The song, and her performance, are good enough to survive it, but it does provide a moment of “Huh!” (I am reasonably confident that Linda is straight, although she is very pro gay rights, apparently.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-where-they-didnt-change-the-gender/591650.md?page=3)